Culture and Emotion

Chapter 8

Outline

The Evolution of Human Emotion

Universality in Emotion- The Basic EmotionsPerspectiveCultural Differences in EmotionConclusion

THE EVOLUTION OFHUMAN EMOTION

Emotion: Transient, neurophysiologicalresponse to a stimulus that excites acoordinated system of components; informs usabout relationship to stimulus, and prepare us todeal with it

Figure 8.1 A General Model of Emotion Elicitation

Emotions are functional• Helps us solve complex social coordination

problems

Having emotion is universal aspect of humanfunctioning• Humans emotions have evolved to be complex

and differentiated• Language allows humans to make fine

distinctions among emotions• Humans have self-conscious emotions and moral

emotions

UNIVERSALITY IN EMOTION-THE BASIC EMOTIONS

PERSPECTIVE

Humans share a common base of emotion withtheir nonhuman primate relatives

Basic emotions• Expressed universally in human faces• Brought on by same types of underlying

psychological elicitors• Associated with unique physiological signatures

in central and autonomic nervous systems• Based in evolutionary theory• Anger, disgust, fear, enjoyment, sadness, and

surprise

The Original Universality Studies

Darwin (1872)

• Emotions are biologically based andevolutionary adaptive

• All humans express emotions in faces in thesame way

• Facial expressions of emotion havecommunicative and adaptive value

The Original Universality Studies

Paul Ekman, Wallace Friesen, and Carroll Izardconducted universality studies which providedfirst methodologically sound evidence for Darwin

Universality Studies: Four studies that foundevidence for universality of emotionalexpressions

Study 1

Study 2

Study 3

Study 4

Judgments of facial expressions by literate cultures

Judgments of facia!

Judgments of faciaprelfterate cultures

Spontamjous facial

expressions by prelitefatE

expressions

sxpres

posed by me

cultures

jmbers of

5ions of emotion

The Original Universality Studies

Study 1: Judgments of facial expressions byliterate cultures (Ekman, Friesen, & Tomkins, 1969)

Observers from US, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, andJapan labeled expressions in photographs

Results: Found high agreement for anger,disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise

Problem: All countries were literate andindustrialized; problem of shared visual input

The Original Universality Studies

Study 2: Judgments of facial expressions bypreliterate cultures (Ekman, Sorenson, & Friesen, 1969)

Observers from New Guinea asked to selectstory that best describes expressions inphotographs

Results: Found high agreement for anger,disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise

The Original Universality Studies

Study 3: Judgments of facial expressions posedby members of preliterate cultures (Ekman,Sorenson, & Friesen, 1969)

Americans asked to label expressions inphotographs of New Guineans

Results: Found high agreement for anger,disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise

The Original Universality Studies

Study 4: Spontaneous facial expressions ofemotion (Ekman, 1972; Friesen, 1972)

American and Japanese students' facialexpressions recorded while they were watchingstressful film

Results: Americans and Japanese showed samefacial expressions at same points in time

The Original Universality Studies

These studies provided initial support foruniversality of anger, disgust, fear, happiness,sadness, and surprise

Universality in Emotion Antecedents

Emotion antecedents: events or situationsthat trigger an emotion

Many studies support the universality ofemotion antecedents (e.g., Scherer, 1997)

• Same types of antecedents bring about sameemotions across cultures

• Similarity in relative frequency with which eachantecedents elicit emotions

Universality in Emotion AppraisalProcesses

Emotion Appraisal: Process by which peopleevaluate events, situations that lead to themhaving emotions

High degree of cross-cultural similarity inemotion process processes

Basic emotions appraised in the same wayuniversally

Universality in Emotion AppraisalProcesses

Emotion

Happiness

Anger

Sadness

Disgust

Fear

Surprise

Contempt

Shame/Guilt

Universal underlying psychological theme

Accomplishing a goal

Being prevented from accomplishing a goal

Being kept from something you desire or want

Being sickened or repulsed by something

Sensing danger caused by unexpected, novel eventsand being helpless to do something about it

Acknowledging something new or novel

Feeling morally superior over someone else

Feeling high responsibility for one's own behaviors,which conflict with one's own standards

Table 8. 1 Underlying Psychological Themes that Elicit Emotions

Universality in Expressive Behavior

Since Ekman's (1972), over 25 publishedstudies demonstrate that when emotion isaroused and there is no reason to modify theexpression, universal facial expressions occur

This is true for a large number of countries

• Judo athletes in 35 countries during AthensOlympics

Universality in Expressive Behavior

Evidence for universality in developmentalliterature

Newborns smile, cry and show distaste; othernegative emotions expressed viaundifferentiated negative expressionsBy age two, express anger and sadnessBy preschool, express all basic emotions

Universality in Expressive Behavior

Studies of congenially blind individuals

• They show same spontaneous and posedemotional expressions as sighted individuals

• Suggests facial expression of emotions aregenetically encoded, not socially learned

Studies of nonhuman primates

These studies all provide evidence thatdiscrete facial expressions are universal,genetically encoded, and linked withprimate ancestors in evolution

Universality in Physiological Responsesto Emotion

Each of universal emotions, when signaled byuniversal expressions, have distinct anddiscrete physiological signature in autonomicnervous system and central nervous system

• This finding replicated in cross-cultural studies(e.g., Chinese and European Americans;Indonesians)

• Emotions help individuals respond to emotionalstimuli by preparing body to engage in activity(e.g., fear-flee; anger-fight)

Universality in Subjective EmotionalExperience

There were many more similarities acrosscultures in subjective feelings in response toemotions than there were differences

Evidence for universal, psychobiologicalemotional patterning in subjective response

Universality in the Coherence amongEmotion Response Systems

Emotion response system coherence:various responses of emotion are related toeach other in meaningful way

• Cross-cultural coherence between self-reportedexpressive behaviors, emotional experiences,and physiology; between verbal and nonverbalexpressions; and between emotion intensity andphysiology

Universality in Emotional Recognition

Expressions of anger, disgust, fear, happiness,sadness, and surprise are universallyrecognized

Recent research also suggest contempt,embarrassment, and pride may also beuniversally recognized

Summary

Emotions are universal psychologicalphenomenon that is based in evolution

Universality in emotion appraisal, expression,physiology, and recognition of emotions inothers

These universal processes allow humans toadapt, respond, and cope with problems insocial lives

CULTURAL DIFFERENCESIN EMOTION

Cultural Differences in Emotion Antecedent

• Cultural differences in frequencies ofantecedents that bring about an emotion

• Death of family/close friends, physicalseparation from loved ones, and world newstriggered sadness for Europeans and Americansmore frequently than it did for Japanese;Problems in relationships triggered sadnessmore frequently for Japanese

• Situations involving relationships triggered angermore frequently for Americans than Japanese;Situations involving strangers triggered angermore frequently for Japanese

Cultural Differences in Emotion Appraisal

• Cultural differences in appraisal processesrequiring judgments of fairness and morality

• African countries appraised situations as moreimmoral, more unfair, and more externallycaused than other countries

• Latin America appraised situations as lessimmoral than other countries

Cultural Differences in Expressive Behavior:Display Rules

• The Original Display Rule Study:• Despite evidence for the universality of

emotional expression of basic emotions, thereare also cultural differences. This discrepancycan be explained by cultural display rules

• Guttural Display Rules: Rules that dictate howuniversal emotional expressions should bemodified according to social situation• Deamplification, Amplification, Neutralization,

Qualification, Masking, Simulation

Cultural Differences in Expressive Behavior:Display Rules

• The Original Display Rule Study:

• Ekman (1972), Friesen (1972): American andJapanese participants viewed highly stressfulfilms in two conditions

Condition

Alone

With Experimenter

Americans

Showed disgust

Showed disgust

Japanese

Showed disgust

Smiled

Cultural Differences in Expressive Behavior:Display Rules

• Recent Cross-Cuitural Research on DisplayRules• Cross-cultural study in 30 countries

Self-lngroup Relations

SeH-OutgroupRelations

Type of culture

Individualistic

Okay to expressnegative feelings; lessneed to display positivefeelings

Suppress expressionsof negative feelings;okay to expresspositive feelings aswould toward ingroup

Collectivistic

Suppress expressionsof negative feelings;more pressure todisplay positive feelings

Encouraged to expressnegative feelings;suppress display ofpositive feelingsreserved for ingroups

Cultural Differences in Expressive Behavior:Display Rules

• Facial expressions of emotion are under dualinfluence of (1) universal, biologically innatefactors and (2) culturally specific, learned displayrules

• The neurocultural theory of emotional expression

Cultural Differences inJudging Emotions in Others

There are cross-cultural differences inrecognition accuracy rates

• Americans better at recognizing anger, disgust,fear, and sadness than Japanese

Cultural source of these differences may beindividualism

• Individualism associated with better recognitionof anger, fear, and happiness

Cultural Differences inJudging Emotions in Others

Decoding rules: rules on how emotionalexpressions are recognized

Ingroup advantage: ability to recognizeemotions of others of same culture better thanthose from different culture• Currently no empirical evidence

Cultural differences in inferences aboutemotional experiences underlying expressions

Cultural Differences in the Concept andSocial Meaning of Emotion

The Concept of Emotion

• Americans place importance and value onfeelings and emotions

• In other cultures, there are no word for 'emotion'or their concept of emotion is different fromEnglish word

Cultural Differences in the Concept andSocial Meaning of Emotion

The Categories of Emotion• Many English emotion words have no equivalent

in other languages

• Emotion words in other languages have noexact English equivalent

Ex) German word: SchadenfreudeThis does not mean that these emotions don't existin other cultures

Suggests different cultures divide their world ofemotion differently

Cultural Differences in the Concept andSocial Meaning of Emotion

The Location of Emotion• In US, place emotion and inner feelings in the

heart• Japanese place emotion in gut or abdomen

• Chewong of Malay place emotion in liver

This indicates that emotions are understooddifferently and have different meanings in differentcultures

Cultural Differences in the Concept andSocial Meaning of Emotion

The Meaning of Emotions to People and toBehavior• In US, emotions inform oneself about self

• In other cultures, emotions are statements aboutrelationship between people and environment

The very concept, definition, understanding, andmeaning of emotion differ across cultures.

Cultural constructionist approach toemotion

Emotions are a set of "socially shared scripts"that are inextricably linked with culture anddevelops as individuals are enculturated intoculture

Emotion reflects cultural environment, and is aintegral part of culture

Culture shapes emotion

Challenges universality or biological innatenessof emotions

Conclusion

Universality and culture-specific aspects ofemotion can co-exist

Basic emotions are universal

Subjective experience and emotion languagemay be culture-specific